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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Things the Menk-man gets wrong in his supercilious anti-tribute to Robin Willaims:

The whole horror show is on his blog, of course. Choice tidbits follow:

Happiness is not a casual thing, it doesn’t just happen, it is something that one can pursue and develop. This is why Chazal say “it is a great Mitzvah to always be happy” — it’s something we can cultivate.

It was Rav Nachman of Breslov, not Chazal, who told us “it is a great Mitzvah to always be happy”

This statement also teaches us that happiness is not a state of laughing delight. Rav Alexander Mandelbaum, in his “V’hayisa Ach Samayach” (“and you shall only be happy”), speaks about two types of happiness considered by Chazal — happiness with one’s lot, and happiness in performance of Mitzvos. Happiness with one’s lot is developed by considering that G-d gives each individual precisely what that person needs — so he or she, even in a difficult situation, should be happy with the understanding that HaShem saw that the difficult situation would prove to be of ultimate benefit. That sort of happiness doesn’t “just happen.”

While it might be true that healthy people can "cultivate happiness", you can't wish away a serious illness like depression. Taking to heart these words, as Menken suggests, and recognizing that God runs the world, distributing blessings that precisely match each person's needs, would not have cured Robin Williams's illness.

Depression is not sadness. Robin Williams was not sad. He was sick with a serious mood disorder.
One does not always feel Sasson, joy. But it is a Mitzvah to always be happy — even on Tisha B’Av, even during Shivah. How can this be? We can comprehend this by understanding Simchah as a feeling of moving happily in the right direction, pursuing a goal. That is something that can remain with a person even during times of grief and pain.

That is real happiness. Unfortunately, the purveyors of what the modern world calls “happiness” — the entertainers — realize within themselves, either consciously or subconsciously, that they have not found and are not providing true happiness.

As Robin Williams never said: "If only someone had told me that happiness is when you're moving happily toward a goal. Wow. If someone had told me that, as I worked for years, laboriously honing my craft and building my career as a world class entertainer, my mood disorder would have cleared right up."

In short, let's redefine the word simcha and use that redefinition to pass judgment on a dead man, his entire industry and the modern world. Robin Williams was desperately sick, but that was not because he didn't have handy Menken's redefinition of the word Simcha. He was sick because something went bad in his brain chemistry. And most irritating of all is Menken's cheap, unfalsifiable assertion that Williams was unhappy - again depression isn't unhappiness - because he "knew" all of this "either consciously or subconsciously."

To people like Menken people don't hate your guts because you're a churlish moron, but because "deep down inside" they know the chulish moron is right.

SUPER COMMENT #1As a mental health professional, I think I am most offended and concerned by his insistence that William's struggle with depression had a cause, and that the cause was his choice of profession. This seems to blame William's for courting his own mental illness. Which, in turn, suggests that having mental health struggles is a choice, and that the truly pious would never experience such struggles because they are "happily" engaged in mitzvot.

Opinion pieces like Menken's are dangerous. Although in his responses to comments, he alludes to being more familiar with research on depression, he doesn't reference actual fact or research about depression in his post. By glossing over the complexities of what clinical depression actually is, and trying to fit Robin William's death into a neat, little "vort" package, he is actually perpetuating the stigma against mental health that pervades the Orthodox community.

SUPER COMMENT #2
Some of his post is breathtaking:

I don’t believe that Williams simply had a mental illness
How fortunate for R. Menken, since he seems to have no interest in talking about mental illness but instead promoting his own "happiness is always a choice" agenda. [DB: And how many hours did Dr. Menken sit with the patient prior to the diagnosis?]

Few are discussing how common depression seems to be among the leading entertainers
A Google search will refute this, but it's important to claim there's no discussion in order to promote the relevance of your own discussion. The faint whiff of a conspiracy of silence never hurt ratings, either.

I did a little research.
Yes, but he should really remove the "a."

I’m not aware of any other industry whose top practitioners are so
likely to have trouble with drugs, alcohol, broken marriages, other
self-destructive behaviors, and of course suicide.
See preceding bullet.

That is real happiness. Unfortunately, the purveyors of what the modern
world calls “happiness” — the entertainers — realize within themselves,
either consciously or subconsciously, that they have not found and are
not providing true happiness.
Here's what the post is really all about, and DB nailed it when he wrote, "In short, let's redefine the word simcha and use that redefinition to pass judgment on a dead man, his entire industry and the modern world."B'tachles, this "vort" isn't about Robin Williams, suicide, or even about happiness as such; the tragedy of Robin Williams death is just a convenient platform from which R. Menken can launch another salvo at modernity.

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]